Reciprocation
by The Genesis Riddle
Summary: Wherefore must we remain ignorant of love reciprocated? Wherefore must remain in limbo to know if the one your heart belongs too returns you affections? And wherefore must we bear the pain of love unrequited? Curio x Francisco


The Genesis Riddle

Reciprocation

**Start**- June 23, 2013

**End**- June 24, 2013

**Warning**- Shonen-ai only a kiss

**Rating**- K+

**Disclaimer**- Romeo x Juliet does not belong me but to FUNimation and studio Gonzo, however I do own these particular incarnations of these characters.

**Summary**- Wherefore must we remain ignorant of love reciprocated? Wherefore must remain in limbo to know if the one your heart belongs too returns you affections? And wherefore must we bear the pain of love unrequited?

**Page Break since nothing else seems to work**

Many years has it been since the passing of our dear Lady Juliet and her beloved Romeo. Many have moved on, even thrived, in our new home, but not you. Your love for our Lady binds you tighter than a hangman's noose and even as you struggle against its fatal hold the more tightly it clings to you soul.

Many believe I too love the Lady Heir and while I may have loved her as a queen and leader, as a precious little sister even, I could not live her as you do, as a beloved. Nay, though I held her dear, my facade of everlasting love her 'twas but a shield to protect me from the outside. To shy away from the brutal suspicions of those who would assume too much, for while I falsified an act of love for Lady Juliet my true affects lay with another, one whose heart the lady in question had captured. And though I may be considered a charmer in the streets we call home, the same tactics I cannot use to win my way into my love's good graces.

I cannot use pretty words to win my way into their heart for they would not only deafen their ears to my verses but also see them as mockery. To compare them to the delicate and fragile petals of a flowers would be seen as no compliment to their rough skin, hardened from battle and riddled with scar flesh that proved to the world they survived. To call them delicate or any of the other many names that may win me into the good graces of the fairer sex would only be an insult to them. And so I am at a loss on how to win your heart.

Yes, for though my affections have known only one home since we were but children your heart has always remained far away. I sigh in melancholy as a search through a small package of papers. Drawings, some amateur scribbles but others beautiful works of art with much time and effort poured into every line, your drawings. In a time long past, never was I so happy as when the art created by your skillful hands was destined for me. My sad sweet sister Cordelia would oft accuse me of madness as a result of the smile I would then bear, the same smile which I now feel creeping upon my face. And though I spoke to naught but God of my feelings I also felt my sister had knowledge of where my affections truly lay.

"Francisco?" your voice calls from the room adjacent, "Harken to me!"

"Here, my friend," I reply and the door opens to reveal your face, "Is there something you require?" You shake your head.

"Nay, I merely wondered as to where you might be hiding." I laugh.

"Hiding? No my friend not hiding, reflecting, on different times."

"Happier times?"

"Nay, merely different…" You cross the room and sit beside me. When your eyes fix upon what I look at your face colors.

"I-I knew not that you kept those…" Once again I find myself chuckling; you never cease to put me in a better humor.

"Of course, why would I not?"

"They…they just do not seem like something you would hold on too, especially not after so many years have passed us by." My hand clenches. Did I truly mean so little to you, that the pictures I held so precious were no more than things to throw away with yesterday's waste to you?

"Francisco? What troubles you so?" You ask, your full of concern for a friend. A friend is a small part of your heart and a part I was once satisfied with that small part but I fear I am no longer content to merely remain by your side. I have not Romeo and Juliet's courage to part from the one I love, but their blessing and comfort came from knowing they loved each other and that their affections were returned, a blessing I have been robbed of by love's cruel twist of fate.

"Curio…love you still…the Lady Juliet?" You startle at this, your single eye widening in surprise. As you reel for an answer my gaze comes to rest upon the scar adoring the other side of your face. Ne'er had I been so frightened as when Juliet brought you home, wounded, bleeding, and barely able to stand. But your answer kept from dwelling on this further.

"Nay, I do not." This startled me. You did not? My shock must have played on my features for you chuckled.

"I do not believe I have loved Lady Juliet for many a year, at least not as I once did. As a queen and little sister, yes, but not as a lover." My eyes were wide. How could this be? When did this happen and why? I voiced this and you smiled again.

"I know not as to when precisely but it I believe it was not long after her passing from this world, as too why I cannot give you a true answer either. Perhaps I accepted her love of Romeo upon her sacrifice or perhaps…"

"Perhaps…?" I urged. Please tell me, has another captured your heart? You looked away.

"Why will you not tell me, my friend?" I asked, forcing a smile though should the answer be what I feared I could feel my bruised heart awaiting anxiously for the sword that would slice it in two.

"I had a great love when we were children," You replied abruptly as you stood and walked to the other side of the room, "But even then I could recognize the fruitless love and buried it deep within my soul. Perhaps that was to proffer me practice for my affections for Juliet."

"A great love?" I asked, "I never noticed such a thing." You laughed deeply.

"I endeavored to keep it secret. I doubted I would be able to endure the teasing from you and your sister, so I kept quiet." I laughed heartily, not bothering to deny your accusations for myself and other children would doubtless have tormented you for such feelings.

"But time has passed my friend. May I now be privy to the identity of your secret flame?" You did not answer, nor did you look at me, instead you once again crossed the room, looking out the window upon the seas that now surrounded our beloved Neo Verona.

"They were…very dear to me. I always sought to impress them with my art and though they barely took note of me I never gave up." I join you at the window and shove your arm in light jest.

"Come now man! Enough with your twisting of words; tell me their name!" You look at me and I freeze. Your eye bore into my soul and before I could react you lean forward and gently press your lips to mine. My eyes widen and before I can respond, the warmth your embrace provided had disappeared and you turn and walk out the door without so much as a backward glance. I stare at the area you once occupied, frozen in a strange mixture of shock and…hope. I rush after you, my mind all in a whirl. How could this be? Did your affections truly once rest with me and if so do there they still reside? I could feel the familiar swell of hope but had become to accustom to this feeling that was oft felt ere the swift devastation of heartbreak.

As I round a corner I see a swarm of young ladies, gathered round a merchant's humble stall. You would oft ask me "Wherefore do you spend time on such paltry words and affections?" The answer is simple, to forget. To forget for a while that my heart is burdened with a long unrequited love, but perhaps this feeling does not solely belong to me.

I see you leaning on a bridge and gazing into the water beneath. Seemingly lost in your thoughts and unaware of the world round you but I can tell from the way you tense upon my approach that you know that it is I. I stop behind you, proceeding slowly and speaking as I go.

"I too had a love when we were children. Though unlike you I was unable to bury my feelings. And though I wished these feelings away they refused to desist and, as if to be as ornery as their subject, they only grew stronger. For even as I toiled to ensure no one knew of these burning feelings I could not bring myself to regret having them for my love, for even now, I believe them to be more than I could ever deserve."

"This lady is quite lucky then. For you to possess such violent affections towards her." I am standing beside you know and still you refuse to look at me.

"Prithee, Curio…Look at me…" You turn your eye to me slowly and our gazes meet, "I beg of thee Curio to answer me with truth, dost thine heart rest with me?" Please let the answer be favorable. My battered and bruised heart could not withstand another such blow, it would truly be shattered forever, no hope of restoration. You do not answer right away, however, instead you return your sights to the river.

"Need you ask?" You spit out bitterly, "Now get you gone. I wish to be alone fore you begin your torment of me."

"Torment?" I say, "Why think you such thoughts?"

"My affections for you are as thee suspected and since these feelings are so obviously unrequited and knowing you as I do it seems right that you should mock me about them. Now again, leave me be."

"You fool!" I shout, quickly drawing your attention back to me and much to my shame I feel tears beginning to form in my eyes, "You are foolish enough to assume your affections are yours alone and then thou hast the gall to accuse me of being so cruel as to torment a soul suffering from unrequited love…Think you so little of me?" Your face twists in an expression of shock and you straighten yourself so that you now stand over me as I struggle to force back these beads of moisture pricking at my eyes.

"Then answer me this Francisco, the name of your childhood sweetheart, prithee what was their name?" I do not answer and your grip my arms and shake me lightly, forcing me to meet your intense gaze.

"Curio…his name is Curio!" I choke out, utterly ashamed of myself for acting as such a woman, so weak and pitiful, but somehow…when it is only you, for it was nearing sundown and this area of the city was very nearly deserted, I do not feel so vulnerable. Suddenly, I am pulled into your warm embrace.

"I dared not hope my affections might be returned so I buried them deep within my heart, yet whenever I saw you with the maidens of this city my heart would ache and I knew that they would not vanish of their own accord. So I turned my eyes elsewhere and lo they fell upon Lady Juliet. For a time my feelings for you where forgotten but that did not quell the ache in my chest when mine eyes did rest upon you lavishing affection upon the maidens who squabble for your heart." My arms wove around your shoulders returning the embrace with as much strength as I could muster.

"If this be a dream may I never again wake," I whisper in the fabric of your clothes.

"Aye," You whisper in return, your own face buried in my hair, "For I do not believe my heart could bear it." I give a choked laugh and push away enough so mine eyes can rest upon your face. You are smiling a soft, warm smile that I rarely have the joy of beholding, and this time this smile is for me alone. I close the distance between us and gently press my lips to yours. You return the kiss sweetly.

In this moment I feel as though I am flying. Is this how Juliet felt when she laid eyes upon Romeo? So full and complete that I feel as though I am close bursting with happiness and I can feel a weight lifting from my shoulders. The ache in my heart is no more and I swear I can feel your own heart flying as well. So this…this is love, reciprocated.

**Fin**

Author's Note: A little first time-y drabble because the world need more Curio x Francisco and because I really wanted to try writing like this. _Reviews are the Romeo to my Juliet!_


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